Germany and How She Dreamed for Another Dream
Politics in Europe —
Europeans loved religions as much as they loved greed; or perhaps religions were only a small fire and greed was the big wind containing oxygen that continues stirring up the fire to burn more rapidly. But sure thing, almost every war that occurred was caused by religions, or perhaps was only an excuse to start a war; to feed their greed for power; to achieve the title of “The Great Power” in Europe; to feel secure as no state in Europe will be strong enough to tackle her down which was miserable as the actual truth is no state will be able to hold that grande amount of power. Taylor (1955) was true, Europe has known almost as much peace as war.
This is explainable. Through his book titled Politics Among Nation; The Struggle for Power And Peace, Morgenthau in 1948 explained that in international politics, whatever it is that a nation aims for, holding power is one of the goals every state dreams about as power means the ability to rule over whom one ruled; politics. Morgenthau then identified there are three types of pattern of politics; 1) an intention to keep the power, 2) an intention to acquire more power, 3) an intention to seek to demonstrate the power it has. In order to achieve power, they have to struggle for it. They have to fight to seek freedom, they have to attack to seek security, they have to exploit to seek prosperity, they have to win the war to seek peace. And all of these applied in almost every nation in Europe, Germany was no exception. So, what stories did Germany have for us to storytell? Which pattern of politics can we find in Germany’s story?
As the The Peace of Augsburg signed in September 1555, every nation in Holy Roman Emperor had enjoyed a pretty quiet time as everyone was thankful of Cuius regio, eius religio; a principle that set every ruler who ruled at that time to freely decide his own religion. But just like any other treaties that have been signed or will be signed years later after this era, The Peace of Augsburg did not last long to settle the religious disagreements in Germany (Solsten, 1995). Good for The Protestant and Catholic as the word “Peace” in The Peace of Augsburg really worked for them. They became more powerful. But not for the adherents of Calvinism as their religion was not included. Local rebellion happened and long story short, it transformed into European conflict and lasted for thirty years. Just like that, The Thirty Years’ War happened (Solsten, 1995).
The war ended by The Peace of Westphalia and calmed the chaos but definitely brought no good to Germany’s condition especially her economy. Mercilessly, the war caused an economic decline in Germany and because of that, European economy began to shift westward to Spain, France, England, and many more nations in Europe’s fringes. Everything had left Germany in the center alone by herself. More than that, the fact that her economy was severely hurt then caused her population to perish from military causes, illness, and starvation. Historians predicted and believed that it would take a century for Germany to reach her level of 1618’s population again (Solsten, 1995).
Truth is, not only the population that needed a long time to recover but the whole Germany did. But it was all worth it; her struggles to gain power back to be greater, even more greater than she was in 1618. She got rid of those incompetent rulers who might bring no change for the better Germany by taking votes; democracy. She also protected what was left; her small nations and free cities by providing enough security. After going through years of The Age of Enlightened Absolutism, she learned and applied wise things in her nation. Efficiency and integrity were appreciated that it brought power and expertise into the nation’s bureaucracies. Religions were still a sensitive topic ーbut not as much as it used toー that could possibly bring social friction but they finally learned to accept every religion that exists, at least the three main religions; tolerance (Solsten, 1995).
So many things happened. Wars and treaties/agreements which were later to be broken still occurred during those times but were manageable by Germany. But then we shall highlight a war called Franco-Prussian war that led to Germany’s unification into German Empire. Germany’s situation was fine but the unification made it much more finer; it experienced an economic boom. She became more powerful, the greatest in Europe. Winning war against France in 1871 was easy, the indemnity France paid to her made her able to develop her nation. Several periods of economic depression were not a big deal for her as her economy grew rapidly. Everything that she produced increased tenfold or even more in this period. And the most important thing for her; her population expanded rapidly (Solsten, 1995). Germany’s intention to struggle for power achieved; to increase her power.
Until 1890 when Russia, the one who used to remain backward than the others, suddenly found power that was stronger than any other power. Germany as the great power in Europe couldn’t stand to see Russia’s sudden rise. After doing some calculations in 1905, Germany best believed that she should start attacking to achieve more power. Whatever happens, Russia cannot overshadow her, despite the fact her place in Europe was safe and sound (Taylor, 1995). Thus, Alfred Schlieffen made a perfect plan called Schlieffen Plan in 1906. The plan was prepared for a war against France and then Russia because Germany needed more army to attack Russia (Solsten, 1995).
The plan to trap the France army was indeed strategically perfect, but some modifications made by the pessimistic Helmuth von Moltke the Younger created a big possibility of Germany’s failure (Limbach, 2016). Germany surely did learn that they just have to make France defeated in the devastated war just like they experienced before; when Germany made her give up after annihilating her army in 45 days in 1870. But surely did France also learn; suffering in her internal division and feckless leadership were no longer her problem. She had Russia, the new main actor in Europe, as her back-up (O’Neil et al, 2014). Russia was faster in backing up France. Exactly on 7th august, they both agreed to invade Germany. Perhaps Germany’s failure cannot all be blamed on Moltke. He was being considerate; that he didn’t have to attack France all out; that he just needed to make some enough damages to keep France while Germany dealt with Russia (O’Neil et al, 2014). But still, him being considerate wasn’t needed as it led to Germany’s defeat. Thus, Germany’s intentions to struggle for power failed; to keep and to seek to demonstrate the power she had.
Using Morgenthau’s struggle for power perspective, this paper best believes that every action taken by Germany to acquire more power, to keep her power, and to seek to demonstrate the power she had was all understandable. Her ambitious dream to be the great power in Europe can be achieved if she struggles for the power thus her action to take a slow but sure time to fix her nation, especially her economy, was a right choice. In the end, sure did she successfully increase her power through that. But her love for greed, just like any other European nations, cannot be forgotten so she dreamed for another dream; to get rid of Russia so she can be the only main actor in Europe despite her position in Europe was unbothered. Whereas, all nations in Europe also had the same ambitious dream as Germany; Russia was no exception too. It is impossible for Russia to just let Germany surprise her with war like that; she, too, must have a perfect plan just like Germany had.
References:
Morgenthau, H., & Nations, P. A. (1948). The struggle for power and peace. Nova York, Alfred Kopf.
O’Neil, W. D. (2014). The Plan that Broke the World: The” Schlieffen Plan” and World War I. William D. O’Neil.
Solsten, E. (Ed.). (1995). Germany: A country study. Federal Research Division. Taylor, A. J. P. (1955). The struggle for mastery in Europe, 1848–1918. Oxford University Press on Demand.
Limbach, R. (2016). Schlieffen Plan. Retrieved 18 December 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Schlieffen-Plan
